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Google Play Services Supplants Android As Google's "Platform"
exomondo writes "Google has a plan to circumvent the problem of fragmentation of its Android operating system across the installed base by using its proprietary, closed-source Google Play Services. Play Services is a privileged service that runs on Android and provides the sort of functionality to applications that would generally be seen in operating system updates like cloud backup, remote wipe, push messaging, etc... This service can be updated silently and independently of the operating system and runs on almost every version of Android out there allowing Google to add functionality to Android devices without having to go through the OEMs so having an up-to-date version of Android is looking like less of a necessity."
It might be worth noting that Google originally rejected copyleft in favor of permissive licensing in the name of giving OEMs and carriers more control over Android on their devices.
It might be worth noting that Google originally rejected copyleft in favor of permissive licensing in the name of giving OEM sand carriers more control over Android on their devices.
And thus /. hath bestowed upon us a new name for companies peddling crappy hardware.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
Fortunately, I keep "Google Play Services" cut off from the net via Droidwall. That should keep Google from fscking with the software on my phone without my review and permission.
*My* computer. *My* choice about whether to apply a software change.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
The manufacturers and carriers have ZERO interest in supporting devices after the ink is dried on the contract. The manufacturers want to be apple and sell a new phone every time the O/S gets even the most basic of incremental improvements to functionality. The carriers are right there with a fresh contract extension and a kriss bladed knife ready to seal the deal in blood.
The rooting community is the only group actively supporting devices. Google on the other hand has almost zero stake in contracts or hardware sales. Their profitability is tied to the services and ad revenue which comes with loyal devotion to their brand's ecosystem. The same brand that the carriers and manufacturers are more than happy to piss and shit on with their stupid & unwanted modifications from the stock Google release.
Samsung is the only manufacturer that doesn't have their head up their ass which is why the Galaxy S is on version 4 instead of these retarded Beta releases from every other manufacturer which get aborted as a brand out of shame and distrust like Diebold/Blackwater/Xe/Academi.
HTC is currently the only brand I'm willing to buy because unlike Samsung, they have figured out that locked boot-loaders are bad for business.
After the raw OS, Google needs to have something unique/proprietary to offer users. That's all the google play interconnected stuff... The Google-specific stuff is... in the Gapps. It makes sense... that's where Google's ecosystem integrates with the OS.
That's not exactly true-- try running a Cyanogenmod build sometime without Gapps. It still works well-- just as you'd expect, you don't have the Google-related things, but there is a non-branded browser, and it's still a very usable device. But yeah, you don't get the benefits (or risks, depending on your POV) of using Google's services.
Still, it's an interesting theory that the OS work is basically done now so new feature work is going to be piled over google services/gapps. I suspect it's a bit overstated as I'd think there is plenty of platform/OS-level and basic framework improvements still to do. Many of the UI advances in the Google services have been built in tandem with corresponding framework development (though much of it is backported all the way to v4),
It might be worth noting that Google originally rejected copyleft in favor of permissive licensing in the name of giving OEM sand carriers more control over Android on their devices.
They did, but that practice of benevolence was quickly up once the time from code release to users adoption became astronomical, causing pitchforks and branding irons labled 'fragmentation' to bought out by every fanboy and 'industry expert'. Something had to be done.
.apk and it seems like you have the Android version of a rootkit.
Besides, Android as a pure OS is still freely available so that hackers and researchers can continue peacefully using the software. As for this new play services app, I'm a little concerned about what possible exploitable backdoors this might enable. Infect a phone with a modified play services
A good chess player can still win against a weak opponent despite letting them take their queen. That doesn't mean that playing without a queen is a good strategic decision.
Which just for the record probably means he is on the latest Chromium branch or one of those based on Chromium as i have noticed the "weird spacing error" thing since the last update, and instead focus on this great news?
As someone who owns an Android pre-paid (finally got out from under that contract, praise the FSM) this is great news but I have a few reservations...does this mean they'll be forcing updates to ICS on devices that can't run it well? Will they just abandon all but the latest and greatest? or will they do like I hope they would and take all those 2.x and 3.x devices and update to the last release in that branch?
Because looking around when i was shopping for my phone it amazed me how many Gingerbread (most 2.3.X based phones) there are being made and sold and moreover...how fricking well they run! When I was first looking at Android a couple years back it was when the market was crapflooded with 1.x devices and I have to say they ran like absolute dogshit. They were slow, buggy as all get out, the screen response was pathetic, they were just total shit, but these Gingerbread based phones? They are snappy, great battery life, plenty of apps for it,decent touchscreens, etc. While the 1.x devices i'm sure soured some on Android based on how shitty they were the 2.x devices are a nice experience all around.
So while its nice that Google will be able to do an end run around the OEMs, which i have noticed really don't give a rat's ass about support once they have sold you the phone I do hope Google doesn't "pull a MSFT" and drop all support and access to Google Play for those using older devices. I live in a rural state where many are working poor and they just can't afford to go out and spend $300+ on a phone and the contracts are legalized assrape so all those $50-$100 Android 2.x phones give the working poor the chance to enjoy what many of us have enjoyed for ages, the ability to have the Internet in their pocket.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Grammer Nazism is a staple of geeks.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
The manufacturers want to be apple and sell a new phone every time the O/S gets even the most basic of incremental improvements to functionality.
How exactly is that being like Apple other than in your invented version of reality? The iPhone 4 was discontinued October of 2011 and is slated to also get iOS 7 coming out later this year. The 3GS got discontinued in September of last year it still received iOS updates to 6.1.3 from last March. The 3G was discontinued in June 2010 yet continued receiving iOS updates until November of 2010. And the original iPhone was discontinued July 2008 and still received iOS updates until February of 2010.
And, yes, the iPhone 4 and 4S will not get all features of iOS 7 but they are still getting a large portion of it along with the security fixes.
Samsung is the only manufacturer that doesn't have their head up their
Well they are not keeping up. I have wonderful phone from Samsung
and the base OS is locked at old and musty. Worse the graphics code
does not take advantage of the graphics hardware as it should.
One of the critical buggers in phone land is the big system lump upgrade.
The Android team apparently elected to structure things to exclude modest updates
and fail to establish a path for trusted updates.
But this stuff is all new. A couple turns of the crank and good things are possible.
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
they'd like you to keep your phone, thank you very much. Even at $600 bucks some of them still have a subsidy.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Settings > Apps > Google Play Services > Disable
here are a few problems: The NSA can now install software on your phone, world wide. If you don't pay Google a monthly fee all your apps and data gets lost in the cloud. They can read all your data, remotely, and give you targeted adds. You can only buy apps from them, unless they let you. Always on the network DRM.
The 8GB iPhone 4 is still in production (rumored to be replaced at the bottom end soon by the iPhone 5C). Only the 16GB and 32GB versions were discontinued to make way for the 4S. Apple has consistently released major OS upgrades only for models that are current on the day of the announcement (including models that are discontinued as of that same date due to simultaneous new product announcements). Ask any iPhone 3G user that upgraded to iOS 5 whether they think this is a good or bad thing.
I can see the utility in google being able to push out new services and frameworks via Google Play.
However it seems like the danger as far as Android being a more open system, is that now you can't change or examine Google Play yourself.
I did try googling for Google Play source, but it seems the sort of thing Google would not likely provide source for... they may very well for embedded frameworks it pushes out I suppose, but then how would you load modified versions?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
A quick check on XDA Developers suggests that many ROMs are having problems with Google Play Services right now: excessive battery usage, high data usage. It is hard to tell because the simple monitoring tools don't break down what this mysterious piece of software is doing. It might be some subtle version incompatibility.
So what happens when a monolithic chunk of software has a *really* bad release? Putting all your eggs in one basket is a serious risk.
When Google spies on me and my fellow citizens they use Linux so that makes it cool!
Pushing updates means your phone or apps break, just one day for no apparent reason. It's why I don't have a smartphone. My SOs sucks so bad we had to buy her a tablet just so she could use her apps and read her books.
My dumbphone is good enough . I look forward to Ubuntu tablets and phones.
HTC is currently the only brand I'm willing to buy because unlike Samsung, they have figured out that locked boot-loaders are bad for business.
Non-carrier branded Samsung phones don't have locked bootloaders.
Dropbox drops it like it's hot.
the definition of open: "mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make"
Don't quote me on this.
I do think there were some bugs to be worked out because they patched the app signature stuff, but the reality is that those ROMs are not getting Google Play from Google, nor do they officially support them.
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Gapps
Incidentally, on any given day any quick check of XDA will show ROMs with a wide variety of bugs. Many of the ROMs on XDA are put together by hobbists who have figured out how to build AOSP from source. Many are quite talented and experienced but do not have a staff of QA testers, nor the inside knowledge of closed source driver APIs. So many bugs on custom ROMs revolve around the hardware driver issue. The hardware driver stuff is the bigger concern (IMHO)
Granted, it would be nice for customers to have an official way to obtain Google Play (as they do for many other gapps)
PocketPermissions Android Permission Guide
I don't use the Google Play store - I don't have an account with Google
For people who choose not to have an account with Google, what alternative to YouTube have you found useful?
He didn't say anything about how Apple supports their devices, just that manufacturers and carriers want to sell devices as much as Apple does. He then notes that but they want to do it without having to upgrade the older ones. I think you're being a bit defensive there bud. The only misconception of reality here is in what you think he said. Apple's support of older devices is great. Google's is getting much better, especially given the logistical challenges of Android. (This is the whole point of the article). It's other manufacturers and carriers that are terrible.
PocketPermissions Android Permission Guide
F-Droid has a pretty good catalog nowadays. I've eliminated everything proprietary from my phone life except for Google Maps and those pesky hardware drivers.
Has the community figured out a business model for funding development of a video game for distribution under a license for free software and free cultural works? Or do you just choose not to play video games more complex than Solitaire?
The iPhone 4 was discontinued October of 2011 and is slated to also get iOS 7 coming out later this year.
The fourth-generation iPod touch was discontinued a year later, in October 2012, and isn't getting iOS 7. This means that for example, someone who bought an iPod touch a year ago won't be able to use a game controller, as game controller support is new in iOS 7.
I'm not sure what I'm missing out on by having not installed Gapps.
If your bank makes its check/cheque deposit application for Android available only on Google Play Store, not on Amazon or direct APK download, you'll have to take the bus to the ATM to deposit a payment that you receive from a relative.
"Of course it's an open-source OS! But we moved all the important parts to a closed-source mega-app which can give itself permission to do anything it wants."
Having said that, I'm not sure I want to start bashing Google too much. People complain about fragmentation and feature exclusion, but complain again when Google introduces a work-around to deal with slow vendor updates. Damned both ways, and if there was a simple, easy solution that did not entirely lock down the OS, it would have pushed out already.
Updates are not mandatory, and you can easily install old versions of Google apps. I am currently running the last V6.x issue of Maps, for example, because the new V7.x ones don't have the navigation without destination feature I use every day.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Visa PayWave is based on NFC, so, basically any phone with it will work, same for "one touch pairing".
"Burst fire" for cam is purely software feature.
Take a look at Nexus 4, then back at your G4, then again at Nexus 4, then look at the price of Nexus 4, then at the price of your G4, then go in the corner and wheep. On the way there you might buy an aftermarket Qi charging coil for your G4.
Grammer
I like to think I'm not normally a Grammar Nazi, but that made me twitch.
HTC also didn't really "figure it out". About 40000 people posted complaints on their FaceBook page.
Your answer to "fragmentation" is here
All your laziness has led to proprietary, closed-source services being dropped on the phone to cover your asses.
Going through the comments, it seems as if I am the only person who seems to think this is a good thing. I got a name-brand phone, but its on a discount carrier. Surprisingly, Cyanogen does not have a fork for my phone (apparently, even though this phone is the most popular Samsung Galaxy my carrier carries, it is still not popular enough for a Cyanogen Mod ROM). My phone is stuck on 2.3.6, meaning that I can't use TWC app on it. I don't think my provider has EVER pushed out an OTA update for any of their phones. My old phone was on 2.0, but luckily there was a Cyanogen Mod for it (actually, it was not an official release, had to dig through forums to find people working on it), and was able to get it to 2.3
My tablett is worse - it is made by an off-name brand chinese company (actually considering wiping it next year and giving it to a friend and picking up a Nexus), and it is only that they released a VERY SIMILAR tablet with a newer OS on it that I was able to get the thing to update to 4.1, otherwise I would still be stuck on 2.1. However, because the phone is rooted, I cannot view Ultraviolet content on it. (Stupid, really, as Netflix works just fine)
So to get updated features, I have to root my device, mess with half a dozen ROMs before finding one that works, go back into the Cyanogen Mod settings (if there is a Cyanogen Mod ROM, otherwise whatever ROM you are using) and punch in my carrier details, hoping my data and texts still work, and run the risk of possibly bricking my device.
Now Google is talking about pushing out updates through the Play Store? What a brilliant idea! Give people new features without them having to Root their phones or install custom ROMs. This will also mean for app developers that more devices will have newer features, allowing special features of your app to run on more devices. This sounds like a VERY good thing.
If you don't like it, block the updates. But for the rest of us, this sounds like a great idea, and I can't wait for Google to push out thier first new updates, and hope this means better app support on my devices.
But then you cannot download any new application when it comes to your mind?
I can't tell the difference between an iPhone 3G and an iPhone 5 was my point.
Are you legally blind? Different case design and materials, larger screen, higher resolution screen, faster CPU/GPU, etc. You're being intentional dense.
I have a low-end phone. It came with a number of google apps that "work" (google play music/books/mags, youtube, google+). When I set "automatically update" it gives me new versions that eat up the battery, run in the background when I don't want, or fail to update because they are too big. I can't disable the new apps unless I uninstall back to the original and I can't uninstall the original but only disable it. So I have to update manually and only get the apps I want to update.
Apple doesn't do what you claim. They release major OS versions along with new hardware but they do release point updates in between. Major versions generally work as far back as four hardware generations and all devices can be updated as soon as updates are released. It is by far the best update situation in the industry.
"which is why the Galaxy S is on version 4" - bullshit. The original Aries family deadended at Gingerbread, despite the fact that they were nearly identical spec-wise to the Nexus S which made it as far as 4.0 or 4.1 (I can't remember if crespo got 4.1 or if it EOLed when 4.2 was released...)
This is despite the fact that the community had 4.0 running within a few weeks, has released 4.1 and 4.2 for that device, and even 4.3 seems to be coming along OK so far.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Right now, as much as I dislike Samsung, I have to give them credit with respect to bootloader locking. Verizon devices were the ONLY bootloader-locked Samsungs until the Galaxy S4, when AT&T was added to the list. Note that pretty much all HTCs on these carriers have been locked down too. (The One on AT&T is strange, I think HTC intentionally "made a mistake" by whitelisting these devices.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Or anybody with an original iPad ... iOS 5.5 is a crashy pile of junk, and I wish I could roll back to an older version, but sadly 'wiping' the device just deletes everything but doesn't affect the version of the OS.
To me, two years was far too short of a time to support the device given what I paid for it -- so my iPad has largely been relegated to a corner and my Nexus 7 gets used in its place.
The only thing I miss is support for Digital Copies I got with DVDs/Blu Rays that I bought, because I have quite a few of them. If Apple would just put iTunes out for Android, I'd be set, but somehow I doubt they'll do that.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Come to the Dark Side... we have "whom".
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Name a phone OS that you think is not being used to spy on you by the NSA? They are spying on everyone. At least you can use Cyanogenmod and use an open source version of the OS.
Stupid comment is stupid, and nobody laughed.
Would you name some notable Free video games that were funded through Kickstarter, so that I and other developers who are first-time users of Kickstarter can understand how this tool was used successfully in the past and in this way figure out how best to use this tool? And what's the best way to approach establishing a US, UK, or Canadian subsidiary in order to qualify under KS's guidelines?
This move by Google may be the best thing to happen to Ubuntu's OS. I know that, personally, Ubuntu's offering hasn't interested me at all -- but if Google really wants to go this direction, I'll have little choice but to go with Ubuntu.
Tempting.... tempting...
F-Droid has a pretty good catalog nowadays. I've eliminated everything proprietary from my phone life
Look at [these games] for examples of commercial free software but not necessarily free culture.
Reliance on proprietary data appears to mean that the developer has to list anti-features. For example, an application distributed as free software that relies on non-free assets would need the NonFreeAdd anti-feature. The F-Droid client defaults to hiding all apps with anti-features. How many people set it to show apps with anti-features?
Play updates itself, in the background and without asking the user. Even when you configured, that you need to confirm updates, the play store updates itself silently in the background.
You may lose features of old versions, get annoying new features, but the worst is, Google is part of prism, and can execute any new code on your phone, anytime they want.
F-Droid is cool, but missing the commercial apps.
Amazon appstore could be an option, because it needs to use the android "install APK" Function with a confimation dialog, while google play can not only update itself, but even other apps without showing this dialog.
Maybe ROMs like cyanogen should alter Android, such that the play store has the same restrictions as other apps.